NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Skeleton athlete Axel Jungk of Germany collected his second World Cup victory on Sunday at the opening race of the 2019/20 IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid, the United States.
The three-time winner of the Team World Championships secured the best time in the second heat, putting him at the top of the field.
Second place went to world champion Martins Dukurs of Latvia, with the eight-time overall World Cup winner finishing 0.12 seconds behind Jungk. 2014 Olympic champion and defending World Cup holder Alexander Tretiakov of Russia took third place.
Chinese athlete Geng Wenqiang ranked 11th out of 27 competitors, one second behind Jungk. Geng's compatriot Yan Wengang finished in 20th place.
The biggest leap up the field in the second heat came from Alexander Gassner of Germany. After starting the second heat in 11th place, the German athlete then climbed to fourth.
He was followed directly by teammate and junior world champion Felix Keisinger in fifth place. In what was only his fifth ever World Cup race, the 21-year-old managed to finish the first heat in a surprising first place.
Youth Olympic champion Evgeniy Rukosuev of Russia broke into the World Cup top ten for the first time, finishing ninth in Lake Placid.
Following the first race in the 2019/20 IBSF World Cup, the overall standings are led by Jungk (225 points) ahead of Dukurs (210 points) and Tretiakov (200 points).
